are you philly'n me?

louise and i are planning a brief trip to philadelphia at the end of next week. i have been to philly a few times and have enjoyed the city. it will be nice to get away for a few days, even though it will probably be freezing. here are my notes for things i might want to go see, do, things i need to get before we go, etc.

i think we have narrowed down the hotel choices. the hotel we are probably going to book has sleep number beds! i am embarrassingly excited about this and can't wait to find out what my number is. they also allows dogs! while it would be awesome to bring jessie, the hotel might not want to house a dog of her gigantic, oafish girth. also, bringing jessie may limit the places we can go and it will be cold outside, so jessie might not like going outside...even if she wears her sweater. i think we will probably leave jessie at home to hang out with dave, nicki and a visiting seamus.

i am interested in the following:

• the franklin institute science museum - this is a nice and nerdy source of edutainment and also has an imax theater
• the reading terminal market - i love places like this...farmer's market, produce, baked good, crafts, junk, etc.
• philadelphia museum of art - i like to pretend i am slightly intellectual...actually i think i have been here before and it was cool
• shopping - christmas shopping sucks....hopefully we can get some more of it done here
• dining - one of my favorite aspects of traveling...i hope to find a lot of vegetarian eating options...maybe i will ask for a veggie steak and cheese at gino's...and maybe i will get beat up
• drinking - another nice change-up from my suburban lifestyle is going to bars, getting drunk and walking back to my hotel room
• something historic - maybe we will go see the liberty bell or ben franklin's house...
• u.s. mint - so i can see how thick my paper is gonna be
• spend some time with louise - we are not one of those weirdo romantic couples, but it will be nice to spend some time together

here are some things we need to do/get before we go:

• thermal underwear
• new winter coat for louise
• find gloves, hat, scarf
• book the hotel
• schedule out what we both want to do/see (3 days will go by quickly)
• get a philly travel book or at least visit some websites to know where to eat, what else to see, etc.

it will be nice to get away...and also nice in that it leads right into my winter break, so when we return, i won't have work the next day. i hope to take a bunch of pictures and post about the trip when i return. for anyone who has spent any time in philly...any suggestions or ideas?